Standing in the doorway to the western wing…
Xing, judging by what you’ve seen in the main room and even what you note initially in the western room, you’d say this crypt seems well-maintained… the floors and surfaces are relatively clean and free of dust. But those facts do make you question some of what you see in this wing.
There are five less fancy and seemingly older sarcophagi: two are still intact, one appears to be missing its stone lid, and the remaining two shows signs of damage. The one near Senna has its lid askew and appears to have been fractured while it was moved, or because of it. Pieces of the lid have broken off and litter the ground around the sarcophagus. The widest and most prominent sarcophagus also appears to have had its lid moved and it snapped roughly halfway down its length. The larger half still rests on the sarcophagus itself, while the remainder of it – one large chunk and a half dozen smaller pieces – have come to rest in the main walkway. From this distance, you suspect you see a heavily-wrapped, possibly mummified, body that is mostly crushed by, but also remains intact enough to partially support, the slab of lid on the floor.
As the team is investigating, Mama finally wanders in and takes up a place near the entrance. She watches the young'uns work with the air of a confident supervisor. They have this, she's sure.
Xing stalks into the room, her face scrunching up in confusion. She looks over at Senna and shrugs. 'No footprints, she mouths as she continues to scan the room.
Senna tries to tread quietly alongside Xing, focusing more on the magic signal while using her peripheral vision to alert her of hidden dangers.
She points at what you now clearly see is a heavily swaddled corpse whose upper body is at least half-flattened beneath the remains of the lid. She tries to convey something else silently but can't. Frustrated, she leans into Xing and whispers.
"The magic signal is on or near that body and it is STRONG. But I can't figure out the type of magic without seeing the source."
Sabelina moves over to the entrance of the west wing so she can be ready to rush in if needed. She tries to keep and eye on Xing and Senna, as well what's happening behind her in the main foyer and the other wing entrances.
Bob also keeps a wary watch, looking for trouble.
Xing holds up her palm, indicating Senna should stay put. Then she points two claws at her eyes, then circling those two claws around the room ... Senna should keep watch. Then she stalks over to the body and begins a closer inspection.
Xing stalks warily around the body, using her eyes as well as her previously cast spell to view the corpse. Closer to the body now, and judging by the portion of the body sticking out from beneath the lid as well as what can be seen of the rest of the body underneath it... Xing can see that the corpse is wrapped in many, many layers of rich fabrics showing the initial stages of rot. It is more cocooned than mummified. The portion on the lid that is resting on the cocooned corpse has compressed the wrappings and body to half their previous height. Looking at the body in profile, it is clear the upper half of the corpse is beneath the stone, with the feet sticking out.
Like Senna, Xing can pick up no further details on the type of magic used. She is fairly certain now that the source of the magic is either on the crushed portion of the body or near it beneath the stone slab - which is diffusing the magic signal somewhat.
Senna waits with an arrow knocked. When Xing seems as if her 'stalk' is over, the little archer mouths 'what now?'
Sabelina grows tired of straining her eyes trying to see while waiting.
"I'm going to see what's happening" she tells Bob. "Back in a jiffy."
Sabelina sneaks down to see what Xing is doing.
Yash took a half-step forward trying to follow after Sabelina to see what the others were finding, but decided against it and remained next to Mama Cookie and Lady, just in case.
Xing looks around the room before curiosity gets the better of her. She shrugs back at Senna, then begins to try to push the stone off of the body ... and get a better look at the magical artifact.
As the lid starts to move under Xing’s efforts, those of you in the west wing hear a broken, cracking voice say, ”Well, hell…” Soot explodes outward from beneath the ramp filling all of the west wing with a choking, toxic dust.
Beneath the sounds of coughing and confusion, joints pop quietly, bones flex, and sinews reform as the hag crawls from beneath the lid of the sarcophagus and claws her way up the sarcophagus proper. As the soot clears, you see her in all her ‘glory’.
She is hairless 5' thing with pitted, coal-black skin, blazing red eyes, and jagged teeth that glow like red-hot iron ingots. Curved claws sprout from her dessicated fingers and withered toes. She eyes the three of you and cackles, ”This is fortuitous.”
Being furthest away from the blast, Senna manages to avoid the worst of the effects. But a coughing fit slows her reactions.
Bob feels creeping doubt overcome his resolve...
|
Mama hears the sudden commotion and frowns. Well, well. Got her. Come on Yash. Time to save our friends.
Sabelina takes a face load of soot, but that's all.
"Damn!"
Mama is dismissive of the misfortune effect as she's moves in and releases a wave of magic that feels like a fortifying hug. Pick on somebody your own age! she jeers at the withered monster.
Xing stumbles back, momentarily blinking and retching as she hag scampers away.
And as she reels from that befoulment, she stubs her toe on the sarcophagus. Screeching in pain, she stoops to rub the injured claw and whacks her forehead on the same sarcophagus.
Yash's attention was still to the other alcoves when the commotion began. His head turned to take in the scene of a soot-filled haze, to which he could only mutter to himself as he reaffirmed the grip on his greataxe.
"Not good..."
Cookie pushes toward the doorway of the room and Blesses her allies.
The hag shoots a feral look at Cookie for her jibe, then leaps on the two women wiping their eyes and dry-heaving soot from their lungs. Her hooked claws rake across Sabelina’s face, nearly taking an eye. Then she nibbles lightly on Xing’s shoulder, the wound cauterizing around her blazing teeth.
~ RND 1 ~
Order
Cookie, Hag, Sable (Soot rnd 1), Yash, Xing (Soot/Misfortune rnd 1), Bob (Misfortune rnd 1), Senna
Bolds are up!
Shocked, disoriented, and in pain, Sabelina needs to do something she knows will work. She backs away and heals herself.
Xing shakes her head, futilely trying to clear her eyesight. When the hag slashes her shoulder, Xing lunges back out in the direction she thinks it came from ... trying to get ahold of the foul creature.
Through her burning eyes and torn face, Sabelina manages to instinctively withdraw from the hag and heal her wounds a bit.
Xing thrashes around like an enraged tiger but doesn’t land a paw on the wily hag. Opting for caution, the large cat retreats from where she most strongly smells her nemesis.
~ RND 1 Cont. ~
Order
Cookie, Hag, Sable (Soot rnd 1) , Yash, Xing (Soot/Misfortune rnd 1), Bob (Misfortune rnd 1), Senna
Bolds are up!
"Grandfather, let my axe swing true" Yash prayed. He moved up to stand next to Bob, hoping to block off the only visible exit to the alcove. He felt somewhat powerless as the decrepit woman tore into his friends, but his grandfather had always preached patience.
"FALL BACK!" he shouted.
"THIS WAY!"
Yash girds himself with magic.
Bob weighs the options and Yash’s words, ”I like how you think… but those girls are blind. They aren’t getting past that whore without help.”
Bob strides in, going toe-to-toe with the hag. His longsword slips from his grasp as he slashes at her. It clangs noisily to the stone floor. Misfortune dogs him and the crone cackles.
Senna slides a step to the south opening up a lane of retreat for Sabelina, if she can take it and assuming the hag doesn’t close the gap. ”Sabelina! There’s a sarcophagus on your left. Crawl over it. It’s clear right now.”
The archer then takes careful aim and fires two arrows at the hag. Ill luck does what the hag’s misfortune can’t… one arrow bounces off the crone’s pebbly hide and the other misses entirely. ”FU<K!”
~ RND 2 ~
Order
Cookie, Hag, Sable (Soot rnd 2), Yash, Xing (Soot/Misfortune rnd 2), Bob (Misfortune rnd 2), Senna
Cookie is up!
Mama seems concerned at Bob's sudden ineptitude. She turns to Yeah with decades of wisdom behind her words, Yash. The Ancestors call to battle! Lady and I will hold the door. Go!
The hag leaps between the watchman and the large cat, trying to have her cake and eat it too. Bob’s sword may be on the ground but his armor and shield aren’t. The hag’s claws strike sparks as they slide ineffectually off the watchman’s sturdy shield. Frustrated, she satisfies her hunger by biting deep into Xing’s vulnerable neck – a softer target, for the moment. The tiger’s fur scorches and her flesh sizzles under the crone’s molten teeth.
~ RND 2, Cont. ~
Order
Cookie, Hag, Sable (Soot rnd 2), Yash, Xing (Soot/Misfortune rnd 2), Bob (Misfortune rnd 2), Senna
Bolds are up!
With a grunt, Yash nodded to Mama. He hefted his axe and stomped toward the hag. He could feel his anger rising as blood flowed from Xing's furred neck. He thought about moving to try and heal Xing, but the rage surfacing simply wouldn't allow it, so he did what he had done so many times before. He bought his axe down, hard, into the hag. He glanced at Xing, worry creeping across his face.
"Leave, now" he muttered.
There is a crunch of bones breaking and a blood-curdling shriek from the hag as Yash buries his axe deeply into her shoulder.
~ RND 2, Cont. ~
Order
Cookie, Hag, Sable (Soot rnd 2), Yash, Xing (Soot/Misfortune rnd 2), Bob (Misfortune rnd 2), Senna
Bolds are up!
At the vicious attack, Xing’s survival instincts kick in. When she hears Yash’s command, she doesn’t hesitate, dodging directly away from the direction the attack came from.
Xing frantically holds an image of the room’s layout in her mind as she rolls across the floor, attempting to come to a crouch against the room’s western-most wall. With one hand against the wall, she makes her way around the room’s edge, attempting to get to the exit.
Worried about the axe in her shoulder and the two sighted fighters right in her face, the hag prioritizes those threats over the crippled tiger.
Xing rolls backwards and slams into the wall and then begins to creep around the periphery of the combat. Unfortunately, her journey is slowed as she trips against, and then has to blindly climb over, sarcophagi.
~ RND 2, Cont. ~
Order
Cookie, Hag, Sable (Soot rnd 2), Yash, Xing (Soot/Misfortune rnd 2) , Bob (Misfortune rnd 2), Senna
Bolds are up!
Sabelina doesn't believe there's any point in trying to find the hag amongst all the noise and shuffling. She takes Senna's advice and finds the sarcophagus to her left to crawl over and behind before she heals herself again.
Sabelina crawls across the semi-open sarcophagus, stopping only when she hits the corner where the northern and eastern walls meet. Her second attempt to heal herself repairs nearly all of the damage she has suffered.
Better still, for Sabelina and Xing, their eyes weep furiously and with a final phlegmy cough they clear the soot from their eyes and lungs!
~ RND 2, Cont. ~
Order
Cookie, Hag, Sable, Yash, Xing (Misfortune rnd 2) , Bob (Misfortune rnd 2), Senna
Bolds are up!
Bob dives for his sword, trying to avoid the hag’s reprisal while putting himself between Xing and the crone. But the hag is skilled and quick. Her teeth find the sweet spot between his helmet and chainmail girding his shoulders. His flesh cooks as she takes a healthy bite out of the back of his neck.
Bob counters with a disemboweling slash that nearly connects, if only luck didn’t seem to favor the hag.
Senna again takes careful aim and fires a salvo of arrows… Both arrows bury themselves deeply in the hag’s withered chest. The archer breathes a sigh of relief. Not useless after all.
~ RND 3 ~
Order
Cookie, Hag, Sable, Yash, Xing (Misfortune rnd 3) , Bob (Misfortune rnd 3), Senna
Bolds are up!
Finish her, Yash! Cookie calls with that same supernatural urging of patrons long past behind her words driving the action to a conclusion.
Fights were like the ocean… and the hag could smell the tide turning. Damn that cat for ruining my plan! Still, if she could break her opponents quickly enough, there was a way to salvage the situation. With the watchman still a fumbling mess, the half-orc was the largest threat at the moment…
The hag lunges at Yash, savaging him with claws and teeth, trying to tear the life from him before he can bring his axe to bear again. Green flesh is rended over and over, half-orc blood sprays in all directions… and yet the Spirit Walker endures, bleeding from a dozen wounds by the time the crone is spent.
The hag knows true doubt for the first time…
~ RND 3, cont. ~
Order
Cookie, Hag, Sable, Yash, Xing (Misfortune rnd 2) , Bob (Misfortune rnd 2), Senna
Bolds are up!
As sight returns, Xing scowls at the changed tactical situation. Yash and Bob bleed, Sabelina still recovers in the far corner, but the hag looks like she’s taken some of her own punishment. Xing is still too wounded to directly help out … the group must survive.
Iro’Shu can help with that! Xing thinks as she darts along the wall, clambering over the empty sarcophagus on her way to the room’s eastern exit. She slides to a stop at the room’s mouth, her foot-claws grinding across the pebbles and dirt on the floor as she takes low-center stance, her arms slowly moving in precise circles.
Energy builds in her left palm, which she then flips outwards — towards the fight — and a wave of warm energy pulses outwards, rejuvenating everyone it touches … but falling just short of actually touching the hag.
She gives Mama Cookie a sideways glance. ”I think we found her, no?”
By the time Sabelina has cleared her eyes, she's no longer much the worse for wear. Most everyone else is looking pretty ragged though. She goes back into the fray, around the sarcophagus and forward using Yash's large form to conceal herself, at least that's what she hopes. At the very end she slips out from behind him to make her attack, hoping her luck treats her better this time.
After her attack, Sabelina quickly withdraws from her lunge into a defensive stance.